An atmosphere of cautious optimism has returned to the oil, gas and petrochemical sectors of late. While it’s some way of the $115 reached in 2011, the barrel price of Brent Crude has now stabilised above $50. And though investment fell by between 40 and 60 percent from 2014 to 2016, one benchmark of industry confidence – mergers and acquisition activity – has risen again. The value of deals in the first half of 2017 topped $135 billion, compared to $87 billion in the same period in 2016. While consolidation accounts for some of the deals, the wider availability of credit, the need to rebuild reserves and cautious optimism are lead causes.